PLANT NUTRITION TRUST REPORT

by

Olivia Cousins

Attending the IPG Root Biology Symposium in Missouri was a highlight of my year. I presented a poster, summarised the findings from my first big experiment, focusing on root responses to variable water and nitrogen supply. Being at my first root-specific conference was very exciting. Not only did I learn more about current research subject area, but I made connections with people from across the globe. Many of these people work on projects looking at ways to improve crop health and yield by tailoring root architecture.

With four main themes at the conference – development, rhizosphere interactions, phenotyping and technology, and adaptations to abiotic stress – it was important that the speakers delivered their message effectively. The common factor of my favourite speakers was their ability to draw in the audience not only with new information but by their delivery. Prof Andrea Carminati from Goerg-August-Universität Göttingen presented his research on soil physics and root water uptake very passionately and humorously. He explained that in maize water uptake is hugely driven by the crown roots; to do this he used cartoon drawings of himself. Certainly original, but the message came across very clearly! Ross Sozani (North Carolina State University) is also another passionate speaker, working on understanding stem cells in Arabidopsis thalianaroots. She quoted that “mixing biology, computational biology and engineering is like a fun tennis match”. Science can be unexpected.

I went to the conference thinking that X-ray Computed Tomography was the only 3D phenotyping technology available, but after listening to Dr Chris Topp (Donald Danforth Plant Science Center) I now understand better the different ways for capturing phenotypic variation in root systems, both 3D and 2D  imaging and modelling. He, along with Prof Michelle Watt (Forschungszentrum Jülich) emphasised that phenotyping roots is a necessity for understanding root-shoot dynamics. The knowledge they shared is something I would like to implement in my own research, perhaps to investigate the effectiveness of these technologies in understanding water-nitrogen interactions in wheat growth.

Another hotly discussed subject was the lack of communication between soil scientists and plant scientists, with many researchers reiterating that collaborations are only made possible through communication. It is also well-known that plant scientists and soil scientists don’t always understand each others areas of expertise. I believe it is critical for each party to work together in order to understand the effect of physical, chemical and environmental processes on plant growth.

The conference certainly delivered in academic content, but it also ensured that we scientists had time to socialise. The opening reception was a great place to make new acquaintances and consolidate old ones. I arrived not knowing anyone, but I discovered I was not the only one from the University of Adelaide, so it gave me the opportunity to strengthen contacts within my own campus, some of whom work in similar areas.  IPG did a fantastic job at providing meals and receptions, also catering for a student/postdoc/speaker dinner; I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other students, talking to them about their research and experiences as a postgraduate.

The opportunity to attend the IPG Root Biology Symposium came at the perfect time. Networking with scientists of all ages and background has reignited my passion for research and understanding the complex nature of our environment. It has helped me to realise that the joys and tribulations of science are shared by multiple people across the globe. We are not alone in facing the known and unknown. We are a community.

Contact: olivia.cousins@adelaide.edu.au

PLANT NUTRITION TRUST REPORT

by

Chandnee Ramkissoon

My name is Chandnee Ramkissoon and I am a 2^ndyear PhD student in soil sciences at the University of Adelaide. I am currently working on a selenium biofortification project, which looks at the optimisation of commercial fertiliser formulations to improve selenium levels in wheat. Last year, I was lucky enough to have been awarded a travel grant from the Plant Nutrition Trust, to attend the 5^thInternational Conference on Selenium in the Environment and Human Health, held in August at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

The conference was officially composed of two serial symposia; for the first time held in parallel at the same site and having overlapping plenary sessions, poster sessions and social events. The two symposia were The 11^th International Symposium on Selenium in Biology and Medicine and the 5^thInternational Conference on Selenium in the Environment and Human Health. I was one among 330 delegates from 41 countries to attend this conference and it was one of the most rewarding experiences ever.

With my current research interest in mind, I opted to attend most lectures about selenium biofortification studies from researchers from all around the world, while sneaking to a few of the most fascinating inter-disciplinary ones running in parallel sessions. Before attending the conference, I was looking forward to meet a few researchers whose work have inspired me personally. For example, some excellent work about selenium biofortification has been ongoing in Malawi since the 2000’s to help residents overcome or prevent selenium deficiency in an affordable manner. Dr Chilimba and Dr Martin Broadley, pioneers of such projects, passionately explained their journey to making such agronomic practices a reality in Malawi and briefly touched on what the next steps to ensure continuity would be. Those lectures, coupled with subsequent Q&A sessions were highly insightful. I was also very pleased to be given the chance to showcase my work in the form of a poster during the poster sessions over the 3 days at the conference. This gave me the opportunity to be critically appraised for my work and be given advice for follow-up steps. This whole experience was therefore very motivating and certainly very rewarding.

The networking and social activities were an important aspect of the conference as well. On the last day of the conference, all delegates were invited to attend a scrumptious reception at the Stockholm City Hall, which is incidentally the venue of the Nobel Prize ceremony every year. It was therefore an absolute honour to be amongst such an elite crowd at such an impressive venue and be addressed by the Mayor of Stockholm on that day. She highlighted how the collective work of scientists and policy makers around the world are helping to address world challenges sustainably and it was a moment of pride to be standing there at that time then. My personal favourite social activity during that trip remains an outing to the Berzelius Laboratory, found on a small nearby island to Stockholm. That laboratory was in fact the exact same location where selenium was accidentally’ discovered by Berzelius, famous Swedish chemist, about 200 years ago! The whole trip on that day ended with a fabulous cruise dinner while we made our way back to Stockholm.

Overall, this conference was overwhelmingly enriching in a sense that I came back more inspired than I have ever been to maintain my research into selenium biofortification and expand upon a bigger picture regarding its impact on the scientific community and greater world. I sincerely thank the Plant Nutrition Trust for giving me the financial opportunity to attend my first international conference in Stockholm to celebrate the 200 years of Selenium discovery.

Contract: chandnee.ramkissoon@adelaide.edu.au

Submitted by: Arjun Pandey

PhD Candidate , School of Agriculture and Food 

The University of Melbourne

1. Tri-society conference in Tampa, Florida

The American tri-society conference, “Managing Global Resources For A Secure Future”, jointly organised by Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society of America was held in Tampa in Florida, USA, from 22-25 October 2017. Around 4000 scientists from around the world attended the conference.

I gave an oral presentation titled, Microbially mediated nitrogen loss and retention pathways in Australian rice paddies. The 15 minutes oral presentation was based on my experimental work during my PhD candidature. The presentation included my findings on the nitrogen loss and retention pathways in Australian rice paddies. Presenting my work in front of experienced scientists from around the world wasa unique experience for me. I also got some important questions and feedback during the discussion session after my presentation which helped me to think about my research findings in a broader perspective. 

I met several scientists from around the world those who are working in my field of research. This provided me with the opportunity to build networks and to know the research activities being carried out in other research institutions. Lastly, I attended presentations from several scientist during the conference. This gave me an opportunity to learn about novel findings in the soil and crop sciences.

2. Visit to the Virginia Institute of Marine science (VIMS), Virginia, USA 

I visited Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS; see photo) and stayed in the institute for two days during 19-20 October. Scientists in the VIMS are mainly focused on costal and estuarine sciences and also in grassland ecosystems. There are experts working in nitrogen (N) transformation in anaerobic soils and sediments using 15N isotopic tracing technique in the institution. I visited the institute to meet Associate Professor Bongkeun Song and his research team who are studying N transformation using 15N isotope tracing technique. This is one of the techniques I have been using in my PhD research work.

I had an excellent meeting with Associate professor Bongkeun Song, whom is working on nitrogen transformation pathways in various ecosystems including agroecosystem. He is an expert on using 15N tracer to quantify nitrogen transformation pathways. I was in contact with Bongkeun for the last two years through emails and I had frequent discussion on my research methodology with him. I met with Bongkeun Song on the 20th of October, 2017. We had a discussion on my research, in particular on the research methodology and outcome of my experiments. I got some valuable inputs from him on my research work. A/Professor Bongkeun took me around his laboratory and explained on the use of some recent Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry (IRMS) instruments and their use in our research. We also discussed about possible collaboration in the future. I also met with few other researchers in the VIMS that are working in my research area. We had a discussion on the methods and instrumental application in our search. 

Acknowledgements: The financial support from the Plant Nutrition Trust Award provided me with a great oppurtunity to attend one of the most important confreneces in the area of soil and crop sciences. I would like to sincerely thank the trust.

Contact: arjunp@student.unimelb.edu.au

Dear All,

It is our pleasure to announce two major ASPS awards – the 2018 Peter Goldacre Award and the inaugural Jan Anderson Award.

These are the premier research awards from ASPS in a calendar year. The Peter Goldacre award is awarded for research contributions for ECRs within 10 years of their active research career, and the Jan Anderson Award is a new award specifically for MCR female researchers. Both award have been named after researchers and are supported by donations. More details can be found on the ASPS website.

It is our pleasure to announce the following awardees.

Dr Caitlin Byrt (University of Adelaide) – Goldacre Awardee 2018

Dr Eloise Foo (University of Tasmania) – Jan Anderson Awardee 2018

Both Caitlin and Eloise have been invited to receive their awards, and give their award lecture, at COMBIO 2018 to be held in Sydney this September. Many congratulations to both of you on your significant research achievements on behalf of ASPS.

Please register for COMBIO if you haven’t already to support Australian plant sciences and discuss your research with your peers.

It was extremely difficult to pick a single winner for both awards this year, due to the extremely high quality of nominees. This bodes well for the future of Plant Sciences in this country, but it also means that some very talented researchers have missed out on the awards. ASPS would like to congratulate all nominees for the quality of their applications and their contributions to plant science research. This is one reason we felt there should be an additional award starting this year, as many of our talented researchers are deserving of extra recognition. We are also looking to role out discipline specific awards from 2019.

Best Regards,

Professor Matthew Gilliham

Honorary Secretary, Aust Soc Plant Scientists

BY JONATHON PLETT

2017 GOLDACRE MEDAL WINNER

Growing up in the countryside of Ontario, Canada, Jonathan Plett was exposed to plants and planted environments from a very early age.  While a love for agriculture and ‘useful’ plants would come to fruition in his research career, Jonathan’s first induction into the world of plants was through flower gardening – a hobby introduced to him at the age of 10 by an English couple active within the local gardening club.  Over the years of working with plants, Jonathan became fascinated by the mechanics of how plants grew and flourished and how different environmental conditions affected these processes.

As early as the age of 12 Jonathan knew that he wanted to have a job working with plants in some form – his first science fair project was testing hydroponic systems for optimal plant growth.  Through his undergraduate work in college, this interest was further strengthened and led to a PhD in plant molecular biology.  This area of science has continued to fuel his imagination and to fascinate him to this day.  Jonathan did his PhD studies with Dr. Sharon Regan at Queen’s University in Canada where he studied the biological function of the plant hormone ethylene.  One aspect of this hormone was its huge role in plant:microbe interactions.  This led to a career shift in his post doctoral work and to his current position as a Lecturer in the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University where he considers the molecular mechanics of how plants interact with soil-borne microbes.

The goal of Jonathan’s research is to foster the relationship between symbiotic soil-borne micro-organisms and plants. These organisms increase plant productivity through improved nutrient availability and plant disease resistance. As intensified agricultural and forestry production is resulting in soils with reduced nutritional value and as plant diseases are becoming more virulent, growers and foresters are becoming more reliant on these symbiotic relationships to support the health and productivity of their plants.  Therefore, we need to select plants that will be able to gain the most from relationships with symbiotic micro-organisms. Currently we only have a rudimentary idea of the plant genetics that enable these symbiotic relationships to occur, let alone how we could select plants that foster these symbiotic relationships.  Jonathan’s research is addressing this critical lack of knowledge by studying the plant pathways targeted by symbiotic ‘effector’ proteins during the initial stages of the interaction between plants and micro-organisms.  Jonathan’s research has shown that these effectors, which are small-secreted microbial proteins, are used by mycorrhizal fungi to manipulate the plant immune response, thereby fostering symbiosis.  This means that the tactics used by mycorrhizal fungi to gain access to their host tissues mirror those of pathogenic organisms, with the production of proteins used to overcome host defences (Plett et al., 2014a). Thus, in response, the plant has evolved mechanisms to defend itself from excessive ingrowth of mycorrhizal hyphae, while still enjoying the beneficial aspects of the relationship.

Jonathan’s work has shown that the plant uses two classic plant hormone pathways: jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene, to limit fungal growth within plant tissues (Plett et al., 2014b).  His work in the metabolic regulation during mycorrhizal colonization of plants has also shown that plants produce toxic secondary compounds to slow fungal growth and that only certain mycorrhizal fungi are able to overcome these defences by either metabolising the defence compound (Tschaplinski et al., 2014) or by inducing the expression of proteases and xenobiotic efflux pumps to weather the onslaught raised by the plant (Plett et al., 2015).  Altogether, the results of Jonathan’s work have led to a paradigm shift in how we understand the core relationship between plants and their associated mycorrhizal fungi. His data are now being used to screen new tree and, more recently, crop lines (Plett et al., 2016), to find the ‘sweet spot’ in immune defence that enables plants to maximise the benefits from mycorrhizal fungi without compromising disease resistance. The application of these findings will result in more productive tree plantations and better food security in crops.

Contact Information:

Email: j.plett@westernsydney.edu.au

Twitter: @FungiDownUnder

Website: https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/hie/people/researchers/doctor_jonathan_plett

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Pg1MvmEAAAAJ&hl=en

Key References:

Plett JM, Daguerre Y, Wittulsky S, Deveau A, Melton SJ, Kohler A, Morrell-Falvey J, Brun A, Veneault-Fourrey C, Martin F. (2014a) The effector protein MiSSP7 of the mutualistic ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolorinteracts with PopulusJAZ proteins.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. 111:8299-8304.

Plett JM, Khachane A, Ouassou M, Sundberg B, Kohler A, Martin F. (2014b)  Ethylene and jasmonic acid act as negative modulators during mutualistic symbiosis between Laccaria bicolor and Populus roots.  New Phytologist 202:270-286.

Plett JM, Tisserant E, Brun A, Morin E, Grigoriev IV, Kuo A, Martin F, Kohler A.  (2015)  The mutualist Laccaria bicolor expresses a core gene regulon during the colonization of diverse host plants and a variable regulon to counteract host-specific defenses. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions28:261-73.

Plett JM, Plett KL, Bithell SL, Mitchell C, Moore K, Powell JR, Anderson IC. (2016) Improved Phytophthoraresistance in commercial chickpea (Cicer arietinum) varieties negatively impacts symbiotic gene signaling and symbiotic potential in some varieties. Plant, Cell & Environment.39:1858–186.

Tschaplinski TJ, Plett JM, Engle NL, Deveau A, Cushman KC, Martin MZ, Doktycz MJ, Tuskan GA, Brun A, Kohler A, Martin F. (2014) Populus trichocarpa and Populus deltoidesexhibit different metabolomic responses to colonization by the symbiotic fungus Laccaria bicolor. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions27:546-556.

Graham Farquhar – Senior Australian 2018

Graham started 2018 with yet another award on Australia Day – Senior Australian for 2018. For those of you unfamiliar with Graham, he has previously won the Prime Minister’s prize for Science in 2015, the Macfarlane Burnett medal from the AAS in 2016 and the Kyoto prize in 2017, to name the most recent. These awards are in recognition of his work that has led to wheat varieties with improved water use efficiency and improved representation of climate change trends associated with evaporation. Plants and water feature in both.

Australia has a significant grain growing industry reliant on rainfall rather than irrigation. Annual rainfall is low and variable between years and plays a major role in setting the potential yield that farmers can achieve. Together with colleagues, Graham developed two theoretical frameworks: firstly, a mathematical model describing photosynthesis based around the biochemical properties of the enzyme Rubisco (Farquhar, von Caemmerer & Berry, 1980) and secondly, equations describing what determines the stable isotopic composition of plants (Farquhar, O’Leary & Berry, 1982). There are two stable isotopic forms for carbon, 12C and 13C, with about 1% of the CO2 in the atmosphere containing 13C. Graham realised that carbon isotope discrimination could provide a way of capturing information about how much water a plant chose to spend in order to gain carbon. It turns out that the 13C/12C ratio in plant material is linearly related to the ratio of carbon gained in photosynthesis to water lost during transpiration. The measurement of the 13C/12C ratio of plant material allowed the identification of contrasting wheat lines and a trait that could be selected. Collaboration with the CSIRO plant breeder Richard Richards led to the release of commercial cultivars with greater yield under water limiting conditions for which they shared the Rank Prize in 2014. The carbon isotope theory has proved useful in a number of ways, in agriculture, ecophysiology and global flux models.

With regard to climate change, Graham’s interest in crop water use extended to larger environmental scales and he realised that some model predictions arising from climate change were misleading. Rather than atmospheric warming leading to an increase in potential evaporation, observations from instruments used by the Bureau of Meteorology and by farmers to schedule irrigation suggested the opposite trend (Roderick and Farquhar 2002).

Graham conducts his research at the Australian National University. He has been a strong supporter of Functional Plant Biology, publishing much of his stable isotope work there and encouraging others to do so.

Farquhar GD, von Caemmerer S, Berry JA. 1980. A biochemical model of photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in leaves of C3 species. Planta 149: 78-90.

Farquhar GD, O’Leary MH, Berry JA. 1982. On the relationship between carbon isotope discrimination and the intercellular carbon dioxide concentration in leaves. Australian Journal of Plant Physiology 9: 121-137.

Roderick ML, Farquhar GD. 2002. The cause of decreased pan evaporation over the past 50 years. Science 298: 1410-1411.

Plant researchers have developed an online application that predicts how crop growth is affected by photosynthetic changes at the molecular, cellular or leaf level of plants.

Food production depends on photosynthesis, the process by which plants capture sunlight and convert it into plant growth, biomass and grain. In the next decades, the world population is expected to reach 9.5 billion and food demand will increase significantly, so improving photosynthesis has become a global research priority.

“Enhancing photosynthesis has the potential to increase crop yields, but the link between photosynthesis and crop productivity is not straightforward because it crosses multiple scales of biological organisation. We created modelling tools that help us navigate through these complexities to identify targets that have the greatest impact on crop yield,” says Dr Alex Wu, a researcher with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis (CoETP) at the University of Queensland.

This online “crystal ball” of crop growth, a small part of the cross-scale model, is designed to show researchers what would happen to a crop canopy with changes in photosynthesis under variable environmental and canopy conditions such as radiation, temperature, levels of CO₂, canopy size and amount of nitrogen in leaves.

“Developing simulation tools like these, we are working towards connecting lab-based research and discoveries, at the leaf or molecular level, with crop productivity under variable environmental conditions,” Dr Wu said.

ARC CoETP Chief Investigator Professor Graeme Hammer says that researchers could now use the online application and see how their work is having an impact on crops in the field, which will radically accelerate the discovery process.

“They can also incorporate high temperature or high CO₂ conditions to test effects of climate change,” he said.

The Diurnal Canopy Photosynthesis Simulator (DCaPS) online application, calculates diurnal (period from sunrise to sunset) canopy CO₂ assimilation and daily biomass increment for a crop under well-watered conditions. DCaPS is now publicly available at www.dcaps.net.au.

This study was published recently in the journal Functional Plant Biology and was funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis and the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAFFI) at the University of Queensland. Article appeared in “Leaflet” Newsletter of the CoE.

It is with great pleasure that ASPS can announce that Dr Beth Loveys has been awarded the ASPS Teaching Award 2018 for her development, implementation and evaluation of innovative teaching practices in plant sciences.

Beth gained her PhD in plant ecophysiology under the supervision of Professor Steve Tyerman in 1998 from Flinders University in South Australia. During her first post-doctoral position at the University of York with Professor Owen Atkin, Beth began broadening her interest in plant physiology to examine the effects of climate change on plant growth, specifically temperature effects. This theme continued with her second post-doctoral position at the Australian National University where her work, with Professor Marilyn Ball as part of the CRC for Greenhouse Accounting, focused on impacts of elevated CO2. In her current position as an Education Specialist at The University of Adelaide Beth is able to inspire the next generation of plant scientists teaching into Bachelor of Agricultural Science, Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology and Applied Biology. Improving student engagement in all areas of plant science has been Beth’s motivation in recent years by the use of blended and active learning pedagogy. Beth’s success in implementing innovative teaching methodologies has been recognised by an Office of Learning and Teaching Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning in 2015.

Beth will give an award lecture at COMBIO 2018, to be held in Sydney 23-26th September 2018, detailing her many innovations in plant science teaching.

Many congratulations from ASPS.

_________________

Professor Matthew Gilliham

ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology

Deputy Head of School (Research)

School of Agriculture, Food and Wine

University of Adelaide

Ph: +61 8 8313 8145 | Twitter: @IonPlants

Lab website: Plant Transport and Signalling Lab

Honorary Secretary, Aust Soc Plant Scientists

By

Viviana Rosati

Thanks to an ASPS Travel Award, I was able to attend the ComBio2017 conference this October in Adelaide, South Australia. It was personally and professionally fulfilling not only to be attending, but presenting, at my very first ComBio. The conference is the main forum for the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZSCDB), and the Australian Society of Plant Scientists (ASPS), with the societies coming together for three days to promote the latest in research and education, as well as enable invaluable network opportunities.

For me, a highlight of the conference was the plenary Annals of Botany Lecture on the second day featuring Professor Cathie Martin from the John Innes Centre. Professor Martin works to increase polyphenol phytonutrients in fruits: compounds with therapeutic properties that could potentially mitigate artherosclerosis and other inflammatory conditions. She emphatically stated: ‘Medicine is not healthcare, food is healthcare. Medicine is sickcare’ – an appropriate reminder for us all.

Over the next two days I attended an array of symposia including: Plant Energy Use Efficiency, Next-generation Phenotyping, Plant Walls and Membranes, Abiotic Stress Tolerance, Microbe-Plant Interactions, and Plant Reproductive Biology. All talks gave me vital insight into the current plant biology research being undertaken worldwide, and offered me several new avenues for my own research – particularly techniques to elucidate the molecular regulation of genes involved in emerging regulatory pathways. The conference delivered an impressive balance of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, associate professors, and professors presenting their cutting-edge research or stories of discovery.

As part of the crop productivity symposium, I presented my research topic Drought Response in Low-Cyanogenic Sorghum bicolor Mutants; with the presentation being very well received. I took a number of questions during the allocated question time and was given valuable advice driving new exploration within the scope of my research program. It is now the fourth time within a two-year period that I have been a conference presenter. As one might expect, my confidence grows with each presentation and as I become more adept; and there is always a constant challenge to improve and hone my skills in order to deliver a story with a clear message that engages interest and drives impact.

I am extremely grateful to ASPS for providing funding that enabled me to attend the conference and present my research to the plant science community.

Contact: Viviana Rosati (viviana.rosati@monash.edu)

Registration now open!
41^st New Phytologist Symposium: Plant sciences for the future

11–13 April 2018, Nancy, France

https://www.newphytologist.org/symposia/41

The 41^st New Phytologist Symposium will provide new insights into the evolutionary forces and molecular mechanisms that govern plant development and physiology, and their interactions with biotic and abiotic cues.

Invited speakers from the New Phytologist Editorial Board will highlight emerging topics in plant sciences as well as the application of modern technologies to capture the complex mechanisms driving plant development, physiology, interactions and evolution.
Eighteen leading scientists will speak at the symposium along with early career researchers, selected to give talks following submission of poster abstracts. Travel grants are available.

Travel grant deadline: Thursday 18 January 2018
Poster abstract deadline: Thursday 8 February 2018

More details and registration at https://www.newphytologist.org/symposia/41.